Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-04

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal.

To what extent do you agree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Smoking is considered one of the most dangerous habits in modern society. Some people believe that adults should have freedon to choose their life style.But it is true that Smoking can cause serious illness and should be made illegal. I totally agree with this statement

Smoking is a slow poison.It has very dangerous impacts on health.It is one of the main reason of lungs cancer and mouth cancer. It is also spreading many other diseases of lungs e.g. tuberculosis, conginital cough.It is also contributing in heart diseases.

There are many vulnerable and immature teenage people that become victim of smoking without willingness.They just adopt the trend just for fun and gradually become chain smokers.

The government should ban smoking compeletely to save people's life.Smoking is hazardous to health.People's life is at risk due to smoking and it should be made illegal.Banning smoking would be very useful for health sector as well.Because every year millions of money spend on treatment of diseases that are due to smoking.

Furthermore smoking is also dangerous for people around them specially children and innocent people that are called passive smokers who inhale smoke. Atleast smoking should be banned compeletely in public places, parks, transports and restaurants.

In conclusion, although implementing a total ban of smoking is very challenging for government but atleast steps should be taken because results and benefits are life saving.I firmly believe that making it illegal is a necessary step that government should take.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you agree that smoking should be illegal, and you give relevant reasons, including harm to smokers, teenagers, passive smokers, and pressure on health services. However, the response does not fully develop these points. For example, the claim that smoking spreads tuberculosis and “conginital cough” is unclear and would benefit from accurate explanation or a more reliable example. You also introduce a complete ban, then suggest banning smoking at least in public places, without clarifying whether this is a compromise or your main proposal. The response is 8 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to explain and support your arguments. Develop fewer points more fully and make your proposed policy consistent.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, several paragraphs giving reasons, and a conclusion that restates your view. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, progression between ideas is sometimes repetitive: the statements that smoking is dangerous and should be illegal recur several times without adding new support. Some connections are also abrupt, such as moving from teenage smokers to government spending, and the final paragraph shifts from a total ban to restrictions in public places. Use each paragraph to develop one main point, connect the explanation to its consequence, and make the relationship between your proposed measures explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “passive smokers,” “hazardous to health,” “treatment,” and “ban,” so the main argument is generally understandable. There are also attempts at more emphatic phrasing, such as “slow poison” and “life saving.” However, the range is limited and several expressions are inaccurate or awkward, which reduces precision: “spreading many other diseases,” “become victim,” and “millions of money” do not express the intended ideas naturally. Spelling errors such as “freedon,” “compeletely,” and “conginital” are noticeable. Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling; precise wording will make your health claims more convincing and easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You communicate your central meaning using mostly short, direct sentences, and you attempt some longer structures, including “although implementing a total ban … is very challenging … but at least steps should be taken.” However, sentence structures are limited, and errors in sentence boundaries, articles, agreement, and punctuation occur throughout. For example, “It is one of the main reason” has a singular-plural agreement problem, while “every year millions of money spend” lacks a correctly formed verb phrase. Several sentences run together without full stops, as in the opening paragraph, and “Because every year…” is left as a fragment. Practise accurate simple sentences first, then combine ideas with controlled subordinate clauses and consistent punctuation.

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